Hi all,
I thought this would be a quick upgrade project!
I got a bargain diagram O33 Lima Siphon G at an exhibition last year. When I got home, I checked what GWR.org say on it - incorrect bogies - well that should be easy. Looking in the Siphon Bible by Jack Slinn, it could be one of four types with 9' Pressed Steel making up 75% of them. Many of them were converted to other types after WWII so watch out for that. O59 is easy - just add shell vents x11. M34 is shell vent
Hi all,
I had a few issues with this wagon - see my last post for details. Now it's solved, here's how I built it.
Firstly, the history. Y7 is the only 17'6" length banana van with sides and 9' wheelbase as per the V21/33 vans. The ends are unique with a shutter on the left and flat X bracing in the middle. Some of them had the ends altered in later life. Of the four preserved, two have the original and two the new ends.
The parts I used were:
The photo at the top made me think about GWR diagram numbers. Why? You might ask. It is because of their diagrams
Diagram O8
Diagram O8
How's that? The Tube (or Open C) wagon is in the wagon index and the Siphon C is in the Passenger index.
Each index has letters and numbers. The letter is a category or vehicle and the number is just a unique identifier. The GWR set these indices up in early 20th century. Generally, the higher the number,
In answer to my question - when it has no wheels. I'm going to look at containers today. In particular the BP1 type.
This all started a out 10 years ago when I bought some cheap containers at a swapmeet. I looked on the internet and bought some POWsides transfers for them. I then researched and found the number provided by POWsides (BP-1723) was not the same as the containers I bought. The Containers and transfers were put away and forgotten about until 2 weeks ago.
I fou
Hi all,
I've not been feeling like doing much on the model railway stock since about September as I have been quite unwell.
At one point, the doctors thought I had brain tumours but luckily, further investigations showed I had a type of Lymphoma (blood cancer) which is treatable. I have since had four rounds of Chemotherapy and have just had my Stem cells re-injected to improve my future immune system.
I'm currently in hospital recovering (thank you NHS) and
Hi all,
I've been thinking about getting some more variety with Loco Coal wagons. There is the Coopercraft and Cambrian 10 ton wagons, a Cambrian 40 ton and nothing great in between. Dapol do several wagons liveries as loco coal, but none are spot on. Shapeways do 3d prints of two types, including an N28 body to go on a Dapol underframe. But the underframes were out of stock when I last looked...
You can make an N27 body by taking 2 Dapol bodies and putting the fixed end
I have a bit of a problem with plastic kits. I don't often follow the instructions - I like to see if there are similar wagons I can make.
I think the Parkside choice of making an O11/15 5 plank open wagon is a good one. So many kits are of wagons that you only really need one of, this one makes over 12,400 wagons!
Looking in Atkins et al, there are a few other diagrams that are similar:-
O11 use the kit non-vacuum
O15 use the kit vacuum
O18 as O11 but sack
Hi all,
Over the last few months I have been working on a GWR Y7 banana van. It's a rare beast that seems to be a bit camera shy but it is the only 17'6" banana van. There is not a kit generally available, so I decided to kit bash one.
The sides look like the standard 17'6" GWR body (Ratio GWR van) and the 9' WB underframe is like the Ratio GWR open. Ends would be modified Cooper Craft spares.
I have mostly built the wagon - I thought I only had tie bars to
Hi - and welcome!
I've been interested in the GWR since my parents brought me a Hornby pannier with a few trucks and an oval of track over 40 years ago.
My Dad and I tried to make a ratio 4 wheel brake coach in the 1980s but it never got finished.
In the 1990s, I started to try Cooper Craft and Cambrian wagon kits. I then moved onto Parkside and other manufacturers whose kits are sadly no longer available. My first try a kit bashing was to convert Ratio Iron M
